This is just a guess, of course, but somewhere around 48% of those who vote in November will be voting for Donald Trump. Without going into the laundry list of obvious examples or any of the standard talking points, there are certainly plenty of reasons not to. Yet he has a perfectly reasonable chance of winning.
Right now, polls show that about 43% of Americans approve of the job he's doing. This, after everything that has happened, and that number should be a very sobering indication of where this country is right now. Personally, I try to understand how these people can do this, but I still only understand some of it.
Anyway, here's the point: Elections are about contrasts. Choices. How can that many people support this disaster of a person? For many of them, they're looking at the alternative. And when those who provide their information and opinions for them point at things like PC and Identity Politics and Cancel Culture and an overall culture in decay, they can make reasonable points not to vote for the Democratic party. Even with, amazingly, this profoundly damaged person in the White House.
It's certainly too late to make any changes before November, but the Democratic party had a chance to take over the middle, and I don't see that happening. There is no excuse, zero, none, for the race to be this close. Regardless of who wins, the Democrats have too often allowed the wrong voices to represent them. It allows the Trumpsters to tie all the silliest crap coming from the hardcore Left to the milquetoast, feeble Biden.
This should be a learning experience, but I'm doubtful.
Yeah. This has been my main complaint for the last six months. It's seems like, if they really wanted to, the Democrats could erect a "tent" big enough to bury Trump. So why don't they?
Maybe I'm underestimating the challenge. To some extent, any movement to the "center", will cost them support from progressives. But on a one for one basis, that's a worthwhile trade. Progressives, even if they don't vote Biden, won't vote for Trump. Independents might.
But it's not all about left-right. There are cross cutting issues which might move independents and reluctant Trump voters their way, without costing them progressive votes. Abandoning the drug war, or at least dialing back on it, is something that would pull libertarian leaning voters their way. And what's wrong with simply admitting to past mistakes and correcting them? It might be a symbolic gesture at this point, but repealing the individual mandate, and acknowledging the basic wrongness of forcing people to buy insurance, would definitely get my attention.
But that's the problem. I don't think they really learned anything from 2016. They're basically us selling the same thing, hoping that the disaster of Trump's first term, and the entrenched Lo2e stupidity, will carry the day. They're doubling down on big government we-know-better-ism and interest group corporatism, with seemingly no awareness of how feed up people are with that shit.
Ultimately, I think they're just willing to stay the course and roll the dice. This is one of the biggest problems with the two-party death spiral. They have little interest in real consensus. They push their agenda as hard as they can, shooting for a slim majority rather than broad support.